September 15, 2014

How to make your Dual Boot better with Burg

How to make your Dual Boot better with Burg

Grub 2 is all well and good, but if you want your dual boot to look a little better, then it's time to reverse it.
Burg gives you the ability to use custom themes for selecting your bootloader, both with and without text. It also opens up the possibility of customizing and developing your own themes.

Warnings

Using the sudo command, especially when affecting your bootloader, can render your system unbootable. Read all instructions and confirm you understand before executing any commands. When pasting into the Terminal, use Ctrl+Shift+V, NOT Ctrl+V.

Installing

With the Terminal

We need to add a couple of PPAs (that's a place for ubuntu to get software from), update the sources (so your computer knows they're there) and then install a few things.

With the Update Manager

You'll have to use the terminal later on. If you're not comfortable doing that, don't do any of the steps listed on this page.
Open the Update Manager,. Click Settings. Navigate to the Other Software tab. Click the Add button, and paste this code.

Then click Add Source. You will need to enter your password. Repeat for this Software Source.

Close the Software Sources window, and use the Update Manager to check for updates. This will make sure your Ubuntu knows about the new software. Now we need to install them.

We're going to install 3 packages, burg (that's the main one), burg-themes (to make it look nice), and grub-customizer (i know we're getting rid of grub and replacing it, but grub-customizer works for burg too).
You can search for and install these in the ubuntu Software Centre. Make sure you click Show # Technical Items (bottom-left).

Customizing

Open Grub Customizer. You will have to enter your password. When you are asked: BURG found! Do you want to configure BURG instead of grub2?, click Yes.
Click Install to MBR (under File) to put Burg down as the default (over grub). Accept the default value unless you are booting from a hard drive other than the first one. If you're unsure, leave it as it is.
I usually untick Ubuntu (recovery mode) because it's not something i want in my normal boot. This leaves me with Ubuntu 12.04 and Windows 7 (yours might be different). Under Preferences you can also set the timeout and default boot item. Click the Save button when you're happy, and close it.
Next, we're going to change the theme (the default isn't up to much). Open the Terminal and execute the following.
Provide your password and a screen like this should appear. Press F2 and use the arrow keys to change the selected theme. I use radiance (looks like ubuntu, the one in the screenshot). Close the windows once you have made your selection (it saves automatically). The next time you start your computer, you will be able to choose your operating system in style.